Two Missing After Barge Capsizes in Arkansas

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Two Missing After Barge Capsizes in Arkansas

Search and rescue crews are back out in Mississippi County, Arkansas Wednesday morning (April 9), after two men went missing after a barge capsized on the Mississippi River Tuesday afternoon (April 8).

The two workers were on board the barge, unloading 50,000 pounds of steel coils when the barge capsized at the shipping terminal they’d stopped at in Hickman, Arkansas.

The Coast Guard, who was called in to help with the search efforts, shut down part of the river as rescue crews worked to find any sign of the missing men.

Sonar teams and divers worked to find any sign of the missing men for several hours last night, but had no luck. Due to the conditions, the crews went home and rested for the night before resuming their search Wednesday morning (April 9).

“The rescue crews are up against a very swift river,” Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook said. “It’s approximately 22 feet or so, plus or minus some, and it’s rising a lot. It’s supposed to rise to like 28 feet in the next couple of days. There’s a tremendous amount of debris in the water.”

Our sister station, WREG reports the workers were unloading 50,000 lb. steel coils off the barge when it capsized. Investigators say they’re still working to figure out what caused the barge to capsize.

The names of the missing men have not been released as of Wednesday morning.